1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to woodworking equipment and specifically equipment and methods for trimming thin lamina which are attached to various contoured substrates.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the Invention
In woodworking, furniture and other industries it is becoming increasingly popular to produce products which have laminated surfaces. Such laminates are generally formed from various polymeric or other synthetic lamina and may include natural or bonded wood substrates. The laminae are generally thin, usually less than 1/16 of an inch in thickness and are attached by hot melt adhesives or by other methods to a relatively inexpensive substrate such as pressed chipboard, plywood or otherwise. Once the binder such as an adhesive is in place and set, the edges of the board or the like are conventionally trimmed manually or by mechanical means to a finished surface, oftentimes with the subsequent addition of edge or bottom lamina likewise being attached and trimmed. In recent years it has become standard in the industry to automatically trim planar laminates with various types of equipment presently on the market. Such conventional equipment will do an excellent job of trimming a flat edge, but with the increasing popularity of "roll" or "rounded" corners, the currently available trimming equipment cannot finish the rounded or curved edge surfaces and such work is left for manual trimming which is expensive and oftentimes, if not precisely done, can result in a discard or "second".
Thus, with the known disadvantages and problems associated with laminate trimming of curved or rounded edges, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a device which will trim a laminated product having a curved edge.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a device having a quadrangular cutting assembly which will automatically trim a curved laminate with accuracy and ease.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a trimmer apparatus and method which can be quickly used and easily learned by relatively inexperienced workers.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is presented below.